


jam #06: In Conjunction

by PokeNirvash



Series: Kinky Kunoichi [6]
Category: Jam-Orbital, Original Work
Genre: Bondage, Detective Work, Gen, Jam-Gagging, Kidnapping, Over-the-Nose (OTN) Masks, Police, Smoking, Tokyo (City), vaporwave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 10:23:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19886056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PokeNirvash/pseuds/PokeNirvash
Summary: The investigation into Muchise's disappearance takes a sudden turn following Shin's confession of the previous evening's events to Naokuu. With a new set of suspects putting them on a clear path to resolving the case, the schoolboy and detective officially team up and resume their investigation, with finding the kidnappers' whereabouts as their next step forward.





	1. Prologue

The streets of Kabukicho on the morning after the latest yakuza battle in Shinjuku were dead. Nobody was out, having cleared the buildings they were holed up in all night and returning from whence they came in massive droves. Their departure had passed, and the neighborhood streets – brightly lit by the cloudless sky above, a stark white with a slight blue tint – were empty of any and all people, yakuza and civilian alike. This applied to the street that the yakiniku restaurant NO BEEF NO LIFE 2nd sat on just as much as it did every other street throughout Kabukicho. Inside the establishment, however… that was a different story.

“Let’s see if I’ve got all this right,” Naokuu said. “You were kidnapped last night.”

Shin looked down, silent for a moment, and replied softly. “Yes.”

“By ninjas.”

“Yes.”

“ _Female_ ninjas, at that.”

“Yes.”

Naokuu closed his eyes, a grimace forming. “And _they’re_ the ones who kidnapped Muchise.”

“Yes.”

“Not only _her_ , but _all_ the serial kidnapping victims too.”

Shin’s response wasn’t as quick as the others, but he eventually said it. “Yes.”

The two young men sat across from one another at one of the tables closest to the restaurant’s upper-floor smoking lounge, illuminated from the corridor past the doorless frame. The schoolboy sat in the chair, looking down at his hands resting in his lap, and the detective sat in the booth across, his arms resting on the table as the second cigarette he lit that morning burned away, the filter end clamped between his lips.

After a lull that felt like too long, Naokuu exhaled, a breathy groan escaping alongside the smoke.

“Hey, what was that sigh just now?” Shin asked, raising his head as he looked straight at Naokuu. “I wasn’t lying to you, not a word! Are you saying you don’t believe me?”

“It’s debatable.” As he leaned back against his seat, Naokuu pinched the current waypoint of his cigarette with his thumb and index, removing the stick and blowing out the rest of the smoke. “Tell me, have you ever bothered to _listen_ to what you just told me for yourself?”

“No?”

“Riiiiight. Then let me help you.” Naokuu turned to the side, letting his hand hang back as he put on a faux-innocent expression with his eyes. “Oh, no yakuza harmed _me_ last night, no sir!” he mocked in a voice as close to Shin’s as he could make it. He then closed his eyes and turned his head the other way, aimed down. “But I _was_ nabbed off the street and tortured until dawn by this group of kinky kunoichi! By the way, _they’re_ the serial kidnappers,” he finished in his normal voice in the flattest tone possible. “You hear it now?” He pushed his cigarette against the bottom of the blue ashtray beside him, extinguishing it with a grind. “Sounds pretty asinine, doesn’t it? No criminal desperate for excuses would even think up a cover story that crazy, and if they _did_ , no cop in their right mind would bother to trust such claims.”

“R-Right,” Shin said with a nervous nod. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“Don’t be.”

Shin blinked in surprise.

“I mean, if your alibi’s _that_ farfetched…” He paused to light a new cigarette, already in his mouth, the Bic flaring up and igniting the end. “Couldn’t _possibly_ be a lie.” With a motion of the thumb, he de-lit the lighter and stashed it away. “That, and you seem an honest kid. So yeah, I believe you.”

Compared to his earlier shame, Shin’s expression had lightened considerably, enough that he was actually smiling some. He was relieved at the answer he got, and as such, he nodded to Naokuu again, his anxiety absent.

“Thank you, sir. I’m glad.”

“It’s kind of aggravating, though.”

“Hm?” Shin looked up, blinking again. “What is?”

“My case.” Naokuu crossed his arms, eyes closed as his cigarette rested between his left thumb and index, over the ashtray. “I went to all the trouble of conducting a thorough investigation into her disappearance, to the point of even finding the perfect suspects.” He opened his eyes and glanced to the right. “All my theories and hard work, all wasted away to _nothing_.”

Shin looked down to the side, the shame returning in a different degree. Instead of feeling like a liar, he felt sorry for Naokuu’s situation, for being at fault in it. He didn’t apologize, though. Just nervous glancing, a breathless whimper murmuring its way out afterwards.

“Although…”

Shin looked back up at Naokuu, intrigued with what was to follow.

“Thanks to your little adventure last night…” He returned his cigarette to his mouth, grinning once the end was in place. “I now know who the _real_ culprits are. And they’re behind the serial kidnappings too? Man, talk about having everything handed to me on a silver platter,” he said with a small laugh.

Shin smiled some as he witnessed Naokuu’s disappointment fade, feeling some of the same satisfaction he felt, for the same reason. His smile soon faded, though, but not in shame.

“Not _everything_. We still don’t know where they are, let alone where they’re keeping Muchise.”

“That’s what we’re gonna find out.”

“Wait, _we_?”

“Yeah,” Naokuu reaffirmed as he shifted himself to the left and stood up, placing one hand on his hip as he looked down at the still-seated Shin. “You’re the only one besides myself who really _cares_ about rescuing her from those kunoichi. Not to mention _you’re_ the one who made this break in the case to begin with. Face it, Shin. You’re as big a part of this investigation as _I_ am.”

Shin looked up at Naokuu as he stood and spoke, amazed at the subtle offer the man five years his senior gave him. He blinked once, still having a hard time believing his ears.

“So whaddaya say?” Naokuu held out his hand, grinning down at the still-stunned Shin. “Care to help me out from this point forward?”

It took Shin a while to process the proposition itself, gasping softly as he looked on in further amazement. Eventually, he found his answer, and stood up to give it.

“Of course, sir,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’d be happy to assist in whatever way I can.”

“Fantastic!” Naokuu pulled his hand back, only to bring it forward and grab Shin’s hand in what felt like a really hard high-five segueing into a handshake. It was definitely enough to make Shin yelp in surprise, blinking in further stupefaction as a small bead of sweat ran down the side of his head. “It’s good to have you on board, Shin.” Naokuu closed his eyes and grinned, pleased with the end result.

The sincerity of the detective’s smile calmed Shin down some, forming his own smile. “Y-Yeah. Though I should probably get some sleep first. We were both up all night, after all.”

“Good point. What do you say we meet up later this afternoon?”

“Sure. Does the Tulry’s at the Cocoon Tower sound good?”

“Sounds fine. And we’ll meet at around 4, alright?”

“Got it,” Shin replied with a nod. “The Cocoon Tower Tulry’s at 4.”

As the two’s conversation wound down, Shin gently broke their handshake of sorts and shifted over to where the light from the outside hall shone the brightest inside the room, which, naturally, was before the entryway. In the hall just outside the smoking lounge’s entrance and exit, a sign identifying the room as such hung to the right, while to the left hung a bulletin board filled with multiple faded and torn fliers, the biggest-standout being a fairly new paper ad for someplace called “JAMSEL U”, with the prominent image of a ponytailed girl in a form-fitting school sweater pulling a bound and gagged redhead in a schoolgirl outfit behind her.

“I’ll see you there,” Shin continued as he turned around and headed for that hallway, one hand in his pocket and the other hanging free.

“See ya there, too.”

Just before he stepped out into the hall, Shin stopped in his tracks, his free arm lightly swinging at the sudden pause.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Since the two of us are partners now, I’ve gotta ask.” He turned his body around part-way and looked back at the detective still in the fringes of darkness. “You mind telling me your name, sir?”

“Hn?” Naokuu blinked once, experiencing a short, delayed reaction to Shin’s question. “Oh! Right! I don’t think I ever properly introduced myself to you.” With a small smile, he stepped into the light, facing Shin. He then raised his hand and pointed his right thumb at his chest. “I’m a Detective Third Rank with the Shibuya Police Force, Naokuu Tanoshiba.” He closed his eyes and shot Shin a wider, toothier grin. “It’s a pleasure to work with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Tulry’s is a reference to Tully’s, a Seattle-based coffee house franchise with several shops located in Japan.  
> 2\. The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, also known simply as the Cocoon Tower, is a 50-story skyscraper in Shinjuku housing three separate educational institutions: the Tokyo Mode Gakuen fashion vocational school, the HAL Tokyo technology and design college, and the Shuto Ikou medical college. There is a Tully’s Coffee shop inside the Cocoon Tower, located on the building’s first floor.  
> 3\. Jam-Orbital fans may recognize the flyer outside the smoking lounge as the cover image for the “Welcome to Jamsel U” pic pack.


	2. Act 1

The soft yet expected commotion of people making their way from place to place was present in the first-floor halls of the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, even on a mid-Sunday afternoon such as this. The face of the coffee shop built inside the Tower was far enough away from any windows or other visual passages to the outside that there was no indication of the time of day, beyond the background noise of the indoor pedestrians. Aside from the lights illuminating the hallway, the channel letters above the café’s doors put off light for those arriving there or simply passing by. On a dark brown surface, read the establishment’s name. “TULRY’S COFFEE”. First word in yellow, second word in orange, and the T and Y in the former larger than the other capital letters.

“Here you are, sir,” the voice of a service clerk chimed from inside the coffee shop as she set two white paper coffee cups with lids and brown sleeves on the countertop. “Two freshly brewed coffees, one light roast, one medium-dark.”

“Thank you,” Naokuu replied as he took both cups, one in each hand, and took them over to the two-person table where Shin waited for him. “I gotta say, Shin, you did a great job picking out this place.”

Shin glanced down at his lap with his left arm resting on the table, looking up at Naokuu after he finished speaking. “You think so?” he said with a small smile. “I thought it’d be good for us to chat in a place indoors and without windows, so they won’t know we’re looking into them.”

Indeed, not unlike the hall passing outside, the inside of the Tulry’s also lacked windows, beyond those at the entrance that looked out into more indoors. The plaster walls behind the counter opposite the front doors, and those on either side, lacked a single viewpoint to the outside, regardless of whether or not the outside was directly beyond at least one of the walls. Even so, it’s not like the other patrons of the café minded. They, mostly college students and faculty, either stood in line or sat down and enjoyed their coffee and snacks.

“But assuming they’re nocturnal, they wouldn’t know about us anyways.” Shin glanced to the side before picking up his cup and drinking from it.

“There’s _that_ , and coffee’s the perfect pick-me-up for the fiasco we had last night.”

“Yeah,” Shin nodded as he set down his cup. “ _You_ look like you need it more than _I_ do.”

“Oh really? What makes you say _that_?”

Naokuu looked at Shin in wait of a response, the bags under his eyes dark like bruises and the accompanying wrinkles under his lower eyelids considerably pronounced.

“Why don’t you try looking in a mirror sometime!?” Shin exclaimed in response, raising his eyebrow at Naokuu. “I’m serious, Mister Tanoshiba, you look like you didn’t sleep at _all_ today.”

“Oh, I slept, all right. Though it was more a _nap_ than anything else…” He took a sip from his own cup, quieter than he spoke. That is, his sip barely made a sound.

“You don’t say…” A small sweatdrop formed on the side of Shin’s head.

Naokuu lowered his cup and exhaled softly. “But I _needed_ all the waking hours I could get, so I could put all my facts in order.” He closed his eyes. “Remember, from here on out, this investigation is a joint effort between us both. If we can’t cooperate, our chances of seeing this to the end are minimal. That said…” He looked up, opening his eyes with a much more serious air. “Are you with me, Shin?”

Shin looked at Naokuu, blinking once as he listened to his question of reassurance. He took no more than a second to process what was asked, and once he did, he closed his eyes, blinking for twice as long as he normally did, and looked straight ahead at Naokuu, as determined as he was.

“You bet I am.”

“Heh. Good,” Naokuu said with a grin. “Then let’s get the ball rolling. First we’ll start with what we know for sure.”

Pedestrian traffic started to slow outside of the Tulry’s as Naokuu’s review over the aforementioned facts began, and inversely, more individuals started coming into the coffee house. A line started to form at the counter in back; it wasn’t long enough to reach the front doors, but it was definitely notable. College kids and middle-aged adults, either alone or as a couple, stood in line or sat in their seats, while clerks operated the registers and behind-the-counter tasks essential to their business. Just as Shin and Naokuu paid no mind to them, they paid no mind to the two as their discussion continued.

“On the evening of March 14th, this past Tuesday, 18-year old Muchise Yokoshima of Nakano Ward vanished from her home without a trace. The incident officially went unreported to the police, but rumors following her disappearance suggested she was kidnapped by the yakuza. The two of _us_ , however, ruled them out as suspects, and instead followed the theory that her abduction was a personal affair rigged to _look_ like a serial kidnapping.”

Shin listened to Naokuu as he went on, the boy taking another long sip of his coffee and letting out a soft breath as he set the cup down. Naokuu, meanwhile, sat with his phone in hand, the screen angled down, proving no distraction for him as his statement continued still.

“Our individual research led to the same conclusion, that five of your classmates at Sadameicho Senior High School were the culprits. Aside from their denial of responsibility, the findings appeared sound. That is, until…”

“By complete chance, I met the kidnappers themselves,” Shin said, not exactly interrupting the detective. “The ones responsible for taking Muchise _and_ all the serial kidnapping victims. Three female ninjas, all highly skilled in the art of bondage.”

“Hence our nickname for them.” Naokuu raised his right hand, pointing at Shin.

“The Kinky Kunoichi.”

“Catchy, isn’t it?” Naokuu held up his coffee and let out a two-syllable chuckle of off-topic mirth. “So we know who was taken and who took them, and we can pretty much figure out _how_ they did it.” He took a sip from his cup, though the time it took and angle of tilt made it look more like a standard drink.

“I was at the front door around the time she was taken, so they _had_ to have come in through her bedroom window. Probably jimmied it open from the outside with a lockpick or something.”

“That would make sense. I mean, it’s not _unlike_ ninjas to sneak into secure places,” Naokuu replied with a shrug.

“But that’s all we know: two ‘whos’ and the ‘how’. We still need to figure out the ‘wheres’.”

“That’s right.” Naokuu closed his eyes and held up his outstretched index finger. “Where Muchise is, and before that, where the Kunoichi are hiding out. To figure _that_ out, we need to know the ‘when’.” He lowered his hand and then opened his eyes. “The night of the Shimizu clan’s next battle.”

“Why _them_ specifically?”

“Heh.” Naokuu grinned again, taking out a folded-up piece of paper and unfolding it over the laminate-wood tabletop. “Earlier this morning, I did some research and compiled a list of all the kidnappings so far. Names, dates, place of abduction, you name it.” He set the paper down on the table, looking down at it. “Anything there stand out to you?”

“Hmm…” Shin looked down at the paper alongside Naokuu, taking note of the five columns of information listed. #, number; 名前, name; デート, date; 所, place; and バトル, battle.

#1 森沢朱美 2083/12/29 目黒区 清水VS綱祥寺

#2 速水海潮 2083/12/30 中央区 清水VS島名

#3 香月風花 2084/01/02 文京区 清水VS秋辺

#4 花園綾 2084/01/05 渋谷区 清水VS木心

#5 篠原陽子 2084/01/07 港区 清水VS座間木

#1 – Akemi Morisawa – 12/29/2083 – Meguro Ward – Shimizu vs. Tsunajoji

#2 – Ushio Hayami – 12/30/2083 – Chuo Ward – Shimizu vs. Shimana

#3 – Fuuka Kazuki – 01/02/2084 – Bunkyo Ward – Shimizu vs. Akibe

#4 – Aya Hanazono – 01/05/2084 – Shibuya Ward – Shimizu vs. Kigokoro

#5 – Yoko Shinohara – 01/07/2084 – Minato Ward – Shimizu vs. Zamagi

Below those first five, more names were listed in the same pattern. It didn’t take long for Shin to see it.

“Yeah. In the battles column.”

“Good eye. Each kidnapping happened on the same night as a yakuza battle involving the Shimizu clan, and in the same ward to boot. Judging from this pattern, they’ll strike again during the Shimizu’s next battle, and if we know _when_ that happens, confronting them should be a piece of cake.”

“Yeah, easy for _you_ to say…”

After keeping the same expression, eyes closed and grinning, for a few seconds, Naokuu opened his eyes and his grin faded. “Of course, there’s also the matter of ‘why’.”

“Why they kidnapped Muchise, right?” Shin grunted, looking down in quiet vitriol. “ _Obviously_ they did it for their own sick pleasure.”

“Actually, I was referring to the _other_ ‘why’,” Naokuu said before putting his hand to his chin and returning his gaze to the list. “Muchise’s case was already an odd duck, but compared to the rest, the differences just pop out even _more_.” His gaze narrowed slightly as his eyes scrolled left-to-right across a certain row of recorded data, the only one circled out of all 31 kidnappings.

#29 横島六知世 2084/03/14 中野区 清水VS冬空

#29 – Muchise Yokoshima – 03/14/2084 – Nakano Ward – Shimizu vs. Fuyuzora

“She was taken from her house while the others were nabbed from back-alleys. Furthermore, she was the only one to be abducted while indoors. And then there’s the battle itself.”

His pan over the row stopped at the battle. 清水VS冬空.

“The Shimizu’s recent battle with the Fuyuzora was heavily hyped through public channels, to the point of having the earliest quarantine order issued in the Great Yakuza War’s history. And yet…” His right eye started to twitch. “There’s no information on the battle itself. A complete press blackout.”

“And word of mouth was pretty scarce too,” Shin remarked. “I saw some graffiti around my neighborhood with a cryptic statement or two, but apart from that, the details of the battle and its outcome are still very muddied, even among Sadameicho’s worst delinquents.”

Naokuu took another sip from his coffee, lowering the cup and sighing as Shin finished. “I never thought it’d come to this, but if the specifics are _that_ hard to come by, I’ve got no choice.” His gaze narrowed once more in determination. “I’ll have to use police resources to figure out why. Why the Kunoichi strayed from their abduction pattern with Muchise.”

“Are you sure that’s necessary, Mister Tanoshiba?” Shin asked, raising his eyebrow as he cupped the base of his coffee cup with both hands. “I mean, I don’t think that’ll be much help in finding where Muchise is.”

“Maybe, but every ‘why’ is just as important to a case as the ‘where’.” He leaned back and crossed his arms, grinning wide. “It’s a detective’s job to figure those things out, after all.” He looked back up at Shin, his prideful glare disappearing as quickly as it first showed up. “So seeing how I’ll be taking care of _that_ , I’ll leave _you_ with learning when the Shimizu’s next battle will be. You think you can handle that?”

“Of course,” Shin said with a nod. “Sadameicho’s a good place to pick up on that sort of stuff, so I shouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say…”

As they spoke, Naokuu’s cell phone started to buzz. While listening to Shin’s response, right from the moment before he said it, he picked up his phone and switched the screen on. He was met with a familiar pop-up window displayed above his homepage screen, with envelope and text.

1新しいメッセージ

月出行沙から

1 New Message

from Yukisa Tsukide

He pressed the screen and was met with the message given to him on the white screen that followed.

ここに私たちのアドレスがあります。 あなたが現れるのを嫌うなら、遅刻しないでください！

Here’s our addresses. If you bother to show, don’t be late!

Below that block of text was a paper-clip icon with the phrase “アドレス”, or “address” next to it; an attachment to the message. Naokuu paid it no mind, instead pressing the trash can icon on the top toolbar. That prompted another message, this time from the phone itself.

このメッセージを削除してもよろしいですか？

Are you sure you want to delete this message?

Below were two options: はい, “Yes”, and いいえ, “No”.

Naokuu pressed Yes. The message disappeared, and the screen reverted to his homepage.

“Not to mention,” Shin continued, grinning back at Naokuu. “I’ve got a way of getting that information as quickly as possible.”

********

“What!?”

It was the next day, a sunny Monday mid-afternoon with faint cirrus and altocumulus clouds scattered across the bright azure sky, the occasional bird chirping in the far background. It was at Sadameicho High School, in the hall outside Class 3-A, that Shin put the beginning stages of his half of the investigation into action. Or so he thought.

“You’re turning me down just like _that_ , no questions!?”

“Uh, _yeah_ , I mean, what’d you expect?”

Standing in the doorway of class 3-A, barely any students inside, were Sento and Ugo, the former with his jacket off and his hands behind his head, and the latter just standing to the side with his usual blank expression.

“Whatever you want us to do, after the crap you pulled recently, there’s _no_ way we’re doing it.”

Ugo grunted softly and nodded in agreement.

“But it’s not even that dangerous!” Shin stepped forward, holding his arms out for emphasis. “All I wanna know is when the next yakuza battle with the Shimizu is gonna happen. It shouldn’t be hard for you to figure _that_ out, right?” he asked with a nervous, forced grin.

“The answer’s _no_ , Kizuka!” Sento shouted as he brought down his arms for his own emphasis. “How many times do I hafta spell it out for ya!?”

Shin winced slightly at Sento’s sudden movements, but regained himself not long after.

“Besides, I thought you didn’t _care_ about the battles,” Ugo mentioned. “What’s with the sudden interest?”

Shin grunted, looking down to the side in solemn frustration. “Things’ve changed, guys. I _need_ to know about the next battles, and fast.” He closed his eyes and clenched his fist, trembling. “It’s the only way for me to find Muchise…”

“So _now_ you think the yakuza took her?” Sento crossed his arms. “Sorry, Shin, but buttering up to me’s not gonna work. You need to let bygones be bygones.”

“How could you even _say_ that!?” Shin shouted to Sento, making him back up in surprise, before turning away again. “Hmph. Some friends _you_ are.”

“Since when was I your _friend_?”

“Weren’t you getting all physical and calling me ‘buddy’ just the other day?”

“Yeah, but that was _before_ you started obsessing over Yokoshima.” Sento turned his head away. “Now, I don’t even know _what_ to think.”

As the two bickered, a student in the barren hallway started slowly approaching the three.

“Oh really!?” Shin exclaimed, stepping forward and getting in close to Sento’s face. “Friend or not, you’re _still_ acting like a complete–!”

“Boys, boys, calm down. Surely, you can talk things out more peaceably.”

Shin and Sento froze at the female voice not a meter away from them. They slowly turned their heads to face the owner of the voice, with Ugo glancing over too. Standing there before them was Renge, her lime green hair hanging free like it always did and her pink dust mask hanging around her neck, resting atop her C-cup breasts.

“After all, it’s only civil for gentlemen such as yourselves~.” She teasingly giggled, her pink lips forming into a smirk.

“Renge!” Shin exclaimed, turning to face her. “Am I glad to see _you_! You think you can help me out with something?”

“Oh sure~. Come with me and let’s talk.” Renge grabbed Shin’s hand and pulled him along.

Shin blushed at the grab, nodding with a soft grunt as he moved closer to Renge and started chatting with her, not even bothering to see Sento and Ugo off. The latter two just watched as the second-year and third-year walked off, their conversation silent to them.

“…Was that Renge Soroda just now?” Ugo asked.

“The info broker girl from class 2-C? Sure looks like her,” Sento said as he leaned against the edge of the doorframe.

“And she’s all buddy-buddy with Shin, too.”

Sento’s brow furrowed. “I swear, that guy’s harem just keeps growing and growing. I just don’t get it.”

“Yeah, me either…”

Further down the hall, Shin’s conversation with Renge reached its crux.

“The next Shimizu yakuza battle, huh?” Renge smiled, closing her eyes for a moment. “You did good coming to me about that over those two clowns.”

“So you know when it’ll be?”

“Not necessarily.” She reopened her eyes. “But I know someone who _does_.” She grinned wide with a soft yet sharp grunt, her red orbs practically shining with excitement. “He’ll answer your question and _thensome_ , I guarantee it.”

********

“I see that Tanoshiba isn’t with you today, Detective Yokoshima.”

“Yeah. I’m surprised you noticed.”

“Why _wouldn’t_ I?”

It was around that time, the turnover from the 2:00 hour to 3:00, that several of the staff at Shibuya Police Headquarters went to get a late lunch. Vehicle and foot traffic persisted on and above the intersection where the 14-story building stood, and while quiet in comparison, there was still plenty of background commotion inside the station’s cafeteria. It was a closed room with light grey walls, pale orange commercial tile flooring, a dropped ceiling with square fluorescent lights evenly spaced about, and nary a window to be seen. Twelve tables with six seats at each, three on either side lengthwise, populated the space, with multiple vending machines to one side and a counter to the back where various staff in work clothes and police uniform went up to order their lunch, typically taking the form of a black bowl with noodle dishes inside.

Yokoshima sat at one of the tables, third back from the counter and second back from the vending machines, in the middle seat, staring at a paper cup of black coffee gently swirling around from being recently set down, his hands placed around it as if he were going to pick it up again. Sitting to his left was Natsutaka, currently working on a noodle bowl he ordered from the counter. To his right, meanwhile, was Azaguro, who paused from his own noodle bowl to continue his conversation with Yokoshima.

“You two’ve been spending all your free time together these past few days. It wasn’t exactly hard to catch on.” As he spoke, he moved the chopsticks in his hand around, occasionally tapping the two thin ends together.

After quietly slurping up his most recent grab of noodles and green onion slices, Natsutaka turned to Yokoshima as well. “He bolted immediately after finishing this morning’s paperwork, so we thought he’d be here with you.”

“Sounds like you two are stalking him,” Yokoshima said with a glance to Natsutaka, his voice blunt but his face somewhat nervous.

“Not really.” Azaguro pointed at the ceiling with his chopsticks. “We’re just curious, that’s all.”

Yokoshima then glanced at Azaguro, his nervousness decreasing slightly. “Riiiiight… Well I _did_ run into him a bit ago, but he didn’t have time to stick around.”

“Did you have any idea where he was going?” Natsutaka asked.

“Not _specifically_. All he said was he was heading for the second floor.”

Azaguro paused, just before he was gonna put the bunch of noodles he grabbed from his bowl into his mouth. His mouth hung open for a split second before he turned to Yokoshima in further curiosity.

“The second floor? Isn’t that where the archives are?”

********

That it was. It was off one of the second floor hallways, through a pair of light gray commercial double doors built into the khaki-colored wall. Above the doors was a sign, the black text on the white background telling all that needed to be told about what laid behind those doors.

警察公文保管 第一位

Level 1 Police Archive Storage

“Tch. Nothing in here either. Dammit!” Naokuu quietly exclaimed as he pushed against the bright beige archive drawer with his open palm, closing it as it returned to the array of drawers very much like it.

The inside of the police archives room was large, multiple rectangular fluorescent panels lighting up the space from above. The good majority of the space – the titular archive storage – was filled with multiple shelves of drawers similar in size, depending on what category a specific shelf focused on, be it written records or physical evidence. Several walkways cut through the shelves, letting those paying a visit walk perpendicular to each shelf’s length. There were very few that allowed one to walk parallel, though. Most of the shelves were packed together like sardines, the tops hooked to a metal guide running along the main passages and the bottoms hooked up to a series of thin trenches running the same direction as the guide. The condensed shelving spread out to grant access who needed info from one of the two on either side of the newly formed pathway, giving sacrifice to the walking space that was there before, close or far.

Standing in the pathway he opened for himself with one of each shelves’ three-point hand cranks, Naokuu moved his hand away from the drawer he closed. Third from the bottom, fifth from the main passage to his right. He put his hands on his hips and sighed. “Welp, onto the next drawer.” He turned around and strolled in the direction of the open walkway.

Before long, he reached his next drawer of focus:

暴力団の物的損害事件

清水族

Yakuza-Based Property Damage Reports

Shimizu Clan

Naokuu reached out for the recessed pull handle below the sign, but before he could so much as get his fingers inside…

“Found what you’re looking for yet?”

Naokuu froze at the sudden voice, well-meaning yet also smarmy, his eyes slightly widening to join the sudden jolt to a stop. Immediately after, though, his eyelids drooped again, staring down in annoyance as his serious frown widened into an equally frustrated scowl.

“No. I haven’t.” He then put his fingers in the handle and pulled out the drawer.

“I _see_ ,” the figure standing at the end of the passage between shelves said. “Well, keep poking around long enough, and I’m sure you’ll find it eventually.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Hosuga,” Naokuu sarcastically remarked as he turned to the man, who merely chuckled at his response.

This man, Hosuga, was the manager of the archives at the Shibuya Police Headquarters, and reflecting his status as such, he was dressed just like an office worker. He wore a white button-up dress shirt with two front pockets, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a navy blue necktie, and a pair of black dress pants with a brown belt around the waist. A more professional getup compared to Naokuu’s white dress shirt with no tie, his usual black jacket, and blue khaki pants. In more facial matters, his black hair was short on the sides but medium-length up top, forming a curly, somewhat messy fringe, while his face, accented by its length and hollow cheeks, was framed with a pair of thick-rimmed rectangular glasses. With his appearance, he stood there with a natural smirk, one hand in his pocket and the opposite arm hanging by his side.

“Y’know, it’s not my policy to ask questions,” Hosuga resumed, stepping forward, “but what’re you looking for, anyway?”

Naokuu grunted, looking away from Hosuga with closed eyes. “Wouldn’t _you_ like to know.” With that non-answer, he started flipping through the folders stored inside the drawer.

“Hey, there’s no need to be secretive with me. I’m just curious, that’s all,” Hosuga said with a shrug. “With all your jumping around, your answer isn’t looking to be an _easy_ one.”

In hearing those words, Naokuu started having second thoughts. His flipping through folder after folder, using only his index and middle digits to move the frontmost manilas aside, slowed to a stop. He paused for a moment after Hosuga’s posit, and then spoke again.

“It’s not much, really.” He turned to face Hosuga, his body moving along with his head this time. “I’m just looking for any information I can on last week’s battle between the Shimizu and Fuyuzora. The press blackout’s making it hard to figure out what happened that night, and the lack of street rumors even moreso. Since the Shimizu are based here in Shibuya, I thought I’d find something about that battle here in the archives. Any little detail will do, so long as I know what went down in the end.”

Hosuga listened to Naokuu’s explanation in its entirety, still smirking. However, once he finished, the smirk widened, a brief two-syllable snicker coming through his exposed teeth.

“If _that’s_ what you’re poking around here for, I know _just_ where to find it.”

“You do?” Naokuu crouched slightly in surprise.

“Oh, of course. Low-ranking officers such as yourself normally aren’t allowed to access this location…” Hosuga brought his hand to his glasses, pushing them further up onto his face with his middle finger as he tilted his head back smugly. “But I’m willing to make an exception just this once.”

“That’s great! So where is it?”

Hosuga let out another two-syllable chuckle as he lowered his head and his hand, looking right at Naokuu with a smaller but similar grin.

“It’s in the Level 3 Archives.”


	3. Act 2

On the rooftop level of Sadameicho High, the usual mid-afternoon sounds could be heard in full harmony. The gusts of wind rattling the chain-link fence surrounding the perimeter. Birds squawking as they soared through the sky above. And the clashes of blunt objects, weapons and fists alike, against one another taking place on the school grounds four stories below. All the norm for a place such as Sadameicho.

Resting atop the sole building addition to the rooftop, the shelter for the stairwell leading up to the roof, was a student, his back against the flat surface. He appeared to be older than most senior-level students, but only by about two to three years max. His brown hair was cut short, its length gradually decreasing as it went from the top of his head to the nape of his neck. Two ring piercings decorated the end of his right eyebrow, and a small vertical scar went down the left edge of his mouth, barely missing his lips. His school uniform, the jacket decorated with a short gold chain on the left side of his collar, was unbuttoned, revealing a white T-shirt underneath, and his pants were torn at the bottom ends, exposing the tops of the sneakers he wore in place of either uniform shoes or uwabaki. His hands were behind his head, his eyes were closed, one leg was bent and the other crossed over it. He reclined in the shadow of the chain-link fence, enjoying the feel of the cool afternoon air, slowly warming up in preparation for spring.

“Hey! Yuuya! You up there? You mind coming down for a second?”

The shouts from the main rooftop below his elevated relaxation spot caught the young man’s attention. He quietly groaned as he opened his brown eyes, moving his hands away from his head and down to the ground on either side of his hips. He lifted himself up off the roof, his arms swinging once they finished supporting him up. “Dammit,” he grunted. “Can’t a guy get a little rest around here?” In spite of his complaint, he turned around, heading for the edge of the roof.

“Are you even _listening_ up there, Yuuya? Get your ass down here _now_!” Renge shouted up at the roof, her hands on either side of her mouth to make her calls seem louder.

Shin stood next to Renge, looking up as well, but with an unsure expression. “You’re _sure_ he’s up here?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Renge moved her hands down and grinned at Shin. “He only ever hangs out up here, so it’s not like he’d be anywhere else. Oh, here he comes now!”

In tune with her sudden exclamation, the student from before reached the edge of the stairway cover rooftop, slowing to a stop for a brief moment as the wind ruffled his uniform. He stared down at the two of them with an intimidating gleam in his brown eyes, and an indeterminate scowl that came off just as scarily.

And then, without warning, he hopped off the edge. Renge stood and watched with her earlier grin, doing nothing, while Shin backed up a few steps, letting out a startled yelp at his long step down. He landed on both feet, crouching with his hands in his pockets. Nary a scratch on him. It didn’t take long for him to stand up straight again, looking at the two who stood in wait for him.

“Hello again, Renge,” he addressed one of the two, his glare much less of one in his more directly observable state, the eyes now gleaming with well-meaning. He put his hand in his right pocket as he gently tilted his head forward. “It’s a real surprise, meeting with you this early.”

“Yeah, sorry for coming up here unannounced and all…” She then put her hands on Shin’s shoulders, pushing him closer as she smiled wide at the delinquent-looking youth. “But I have a friend here who’s just _dying_ to meet you~.”

Shin grunted at the push, blushing slightly as he looked down. “Not really.”

“Oh, hush!” Renge let go of Shin’s shoulders, but not before giving him a second push forward. The boy yelped in surprise as he took a couple steps forward, hunched over in reaction. As he straightened up, she continued, holding out her hand to the young man before them. “Shin, this is my contact I told you about. Everything I know about the Great Yakuza War, I learned from him. And _he_ knows quite the boatload himself~.”

“The name’s Yuuya Fushikubo.” He held out his right hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Shin looked up, silent for a second as his gaze moved from Yuuya’s face to his hand. Without question, he took it and gave it as firm a shake as he could muster. “Shin Kizuka. The pleasure’s all mine.”

“Kizuka?” Yuuya pulled his hand back, returning it to his pocket as he tilted back some. “Ah, I see, so _you’re_ Kizuka. Not what I was expecting.”

Shin grumbled under his breath, his indifferent frown wide enough to look like a smirk for a split second. “I see the rumors about me have spread far and wide now.”

“From the sound of it, yes,” Yuuya said as he walked past Shin, along the fence around the roof perimeter. Renge watched each step he took, slow in an almost methodical way. “But as far as _I_ know, they’re just rumors, nothing more. And they’re _childish_ rumors at that.” He came to a stop and turned slightly, looking out past the chain-link barrier. “Almost as childish as the delinquents littering this school.”

Down below, on the school grounds in front of the main entrance, Yuuya’s sights were focused on a battle between delinquents. This one was just finishing up, the finale consisting of the two opponents rushing at each other in one last exchange of blows. On one side of the makeshift battleground was a tan-skinned, dreadlocked delinquent with a black unbuttoned school jacket with a sarashi chest wrap underneath, a matching pair of uniform pants, sandals, and a red headband, wielding a wooden sword as his weapon. On the other side was a bald-headed delinquent with a scar across the bridge of his nose and a soul patch that looked like a grouping of vertical lines, a gray T-shirt under his unbuttoned jacket and his cotton pants kept in place by a belt, wielding a long pipe with a bend at the end. Both men screamed in fury at one another as they flung themselves at one another and made impact with their weapons. In a flash, both stopped after striking, gripping their weapons tight, not moving an inch.

“They clash with one another at random, fighting with neither rhyme nor reason, persisting until only one remains standing in the end.”

After a lull of a few seconds, the dreadlocked delinquent collapsed to the ground unconscious, his bokken hitting the ground shortly after he landed face-first on the dirt surface. The victor of the match, the bald delinquent, turned to face the crowd of students surrounding them, the majority of which faced the school. He raised his right arm, crowbar in hand, and let out a loud “Yeahhhh!”, eliciting a chorus of rowdy cheers by the rubberneckers holding their own right arms up in solidarity.

“In a way, their petty conflicts are reminiscent of the yakuza battles, minus the organization and underlying context.” He subtly grimaced as he watched the aftermath below, his eyes squinting and his perpetual frown widening. “It’s enough to make me _sick_.”

“Oooooookay.”

“That’s great, but we didn’t come here to sit through one of your tangents, Yuuya.” Renge put one hand on Shin’s shoulder, making him blush again, as she shot Yuuya a grin filled with the intent to convince. “All we wanna know is when the Shimizu clan’s next battle is, and with whom. You’ll tell us that, won’t you?”

“I dunno. Why ask _that_ , of all things?” Yuuya looked back at Shin and Renge, his stare narrowing again with suspicion. “The Shimizu aren’t ones to be trifled with, you know.”

“Don’t ask _me_ ,” Renge said, putting her hands up. “ _Shin’s_ the one who needs your intel.” She gestured to Shin with her right hand.

Shin perked up for a second, but didn’t yelp or groan or anything of the nature. Instead, he calmed almost immediately, giving Yuuya an otherwise nervous smile. “It’s complicated, my reason for asking. If I explained, I don’t think either of you would believe me.”

Yuuya closed his eyes and grunted softly. “Whether or not I _do_ believe you…” He turned around to face the two again. “And whether you live or die from my knowledge…” He opened his eyes, giving them a slight grin. “I’d be more than happy to share it with you.”

Shin gasped at Yuuya’s agreement, smiling in subdued excitement as he backed up a step and brought his hands together. “That’s great!”

Renge, meanwhile, wore a blank expression, blinking once. “Wait, by ‘it’, you don’t mean…”

“But before we get to that, I should start from the very beginning.” Yuuya raised his right hand, index finger outstretched, as he closed his eyes and started to explain. “As you both probably know, the conflict that sparked the Great Yakuza War was a simple dispute over drug delivery routes. The Shimizu weren’t directly involved in the trade of these illegal substances, but some of the clans that _were_ often sent their wares through portions of their property. The Shimizu, of course, didn’t take kindly to that, so they took action in their usual way…”

As he went on the beginning of what appeared to be a long tangent, Shin and Renge just watched, the former letting out a quiet sigh. “I had a feeling he’d do this.”

“Does he _really_ need to go that in-depth? I mean, it’s just a simple question.”

Renge turned to Shin, one hand on her hip, and grinned. “Hey, I _did_ say he’d tell you _thensome_.”

“That you did,” Shin said in blunt defeat.

Renge closed her eyes and snickered to herself.

********

A simple turn and click was all it took to open the locked door, which slowly swung into the dark room, away from the frame thanks to the hand on the knob.

“Here we are,” Hosuga announced as he flipped the light switch, flooding the room in warm white fluorescent light from a single bulb. “The Level 3 Archives.”

The room was fitting of that with such high security clearance, in that it was fairly small. There was an open space in the middle of the gray floor for standing and sitting, and boxing that space in on all sides were file drawers housing the documents reserved for that room. The surrounding drawer blocs were four drawers tall, with cardboard evidence storage boxes stacked on top of them, with the occasional bundle of envelopes tied newspaper-style with string in-between or on top of _that_. There was even a stray evidence box on the ground in one of the back corners. All of this before the eyes of Hosuga, who opened the door, and Naokuu, who stood beside him.

“Home to all case information currently under media censorship, both voluntary and enforced.” Hosuga’s smirk widened, almost conniving. “As well as those few things _they_ don’t want the public knowing about.”

“So all proof of the force’s corrupt dealings are here _too_ , ah?”

Hosuga closed his eyes. “No, _they’re_ somewhere even _more_ classified. Even _I_ don’t have access to _that_ storeroom.”

“Juuust makin’ small talk,” Naokuu replied as he stepped into the room, eyeing the cabinets to his right.

“Try not to take up _too_ much time in there, alright? I only got you clearance for the next two hours, so use ‘em wisely.”

“Will do.”

Hosuga let out a small under-the-breath snicker as he re-grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door shut, leaving Naokuu alone in the archive storeroom.

Once Hosuga was gone, Naokuu raised his arms above his head and stretched, palms facing upwards with fingers intertwined. He groaned quietly as his knuckles cracked with just as low a volume, lowering his arms once finished. “Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Without further ado, Naokuu bent his legs and squatted down, pulling out one drawer from the second level up and thumbing through it, efficiently but carefully.

********

“In short, that’s why the Shimizu never fight on their own turf. Instead, they go to the territory of their opponents and do battle with them _there_. Not that it changes their odds of winning or anything…”

Yuuya’s exposition on the Great Yakuza War that he started on the roof of the Sadameicho reached its conclusion a few hours later, the clear afternoon sky starting to grow hazy and near-white as the sun prepared to set on the horizon. He walked alongside the edge of the school’s eastern property, a chain-link fence separating the grounds from a seven-story tall slate marble building with a small water tower on top. Shin and Renge followed behind them, the former listening with better attention than he did much earlier, and the latter glancing off to the side in growing disinterest as she held her pink dust mask close to the lower half of her face.

“Point is, whoever the Shimizu are fighting, the battle will happen on the others’ home turf.”

Shin closed his eyes, a small bead of sweat forming on his temple. “That’s good to know, but that doesn’t really answer my question.”

“Yes, the opponent and the time they fight.” Yuuya then came to a stop, just a few steps away from the campus’s still-open south gate. “You see, I’m afraid I _lack_ that information at the moment.”

“Wha…” Shin stopped as Yuuya did, but with the disbelief in his incomplete exclamation, one would think he paused later than he did. “Seriously?”

Renge stopped as well, turning to look at Shin as he reacted.

“The speed at which information about future battles is relayed shares relation with how soon the associated quarantine orders are issued.” Yuuya raised his head and looked at the sky, putting his hands behind his back. “If it’s issued mere minutes before the battle, word of it will break early that morning.” He closed his eyes. “Judging from the usual pattern, I _should_ know the basics the morning of.” Slowly, he turned back towards Shin, opening his eyes to look at him. “After which, I’ll send them straight to you.”

Shin just looked at Yuuya with an unsure stare. “Are you _sure_ I’ll get the right info?”

Yuuya closed his eyes again and grinned with an amused chuckle. “Where I come from, word of mouth moves fast and with pinpoint accuracy. Nothing I’ve heard about the battles has been wrong _yet_.” He opened his eyes, his grin shrinking to an honest smile. “So what I send you will likely be right _and_ on time. Wouldn’t you say so, Kizuka?”

Shin blinked once, his expression calming into one of more cautious sureness. “Yeah, probably.” He brought his hands together and bowed to Yuuya. “Still, thanks for the info, Mister Fushikubo.”

Yuuya smiled wider at Shin’s thanks, grunting gently. “You’re a good kid, Kizuka. I don’t care _what_ they say about ya.” He turned back around and walked toward the gate, raising his arm above his head in departure to them.

Shin raised his hand back in return. Renge did the same with a higher reach, using her free left hand to pull her mask down to around her neck. “I told ya he’d be of good help.”

“Like I’d ever doubt _your_ intel,” Shin said as he lowered his hand, just as Renge did, turning to face her. “So how much is it _this_ time?”

“Nothing, actually!” Renge closed her eyes and smiled wide, putting her hands behind her head and gently shrugging. “It’s free of charge today.”

“Eh?” Shin blinked, processing Renge’s admittance in disbelief. “…Are you _serious_!?”

********

現時点では、公安のために上記の情報に容易にアクセスできるようにすることを禁止していることをお勧めします。

At this time, it is advisable to refrain from making the above information readily accessible, for the sake of public security.

Those words marked the conclusion of the report Naokuu read to himself; the one that marked the finish of his perusal of information in the Level 3 Archives. Genuflecting as he reached the end of the report, Naokuu closed the file and returned it to the open drawer from whence it came, also on the second level up but not the one he opened first. He stood upright as he stashed the folder away, closing the drawer right after.

“Okay then,” Naokuu said to himself, raising his head a tad with an enlightened and determined gaze. “So _that’s_ how it is.”

**“From the first incident on, the general public’s belief that the Kinky Kunoichi’s kidnappings were enacted by the yakuza was a given.”**

Without delay, Naokuu cleared out of the Level 3 Archives with what little he had on his person, which was just his jacket. As he walked down the gray-walled, grey-floored hallway leading to the secure location, he passed a security guard keeping watch beside one of the walls. The guard, a fortysomething man of fit build dressed in a light blue dress shirt with a three-star epaulette on either shoulder, a tie, pants and cap of a much darker shade of blue, and a nightstick tucked in a holster branching off of his belt, simply nodded to Naokuu as he passed. The detective quickly turned his head and nodded back in recognition before continuing on his way.

**“But it was the Fuyuzora who were the first to pin the blame on a specific clan, pointing fingers at their enemies, the Shimizu.”**

Meanwhile, Shin started walking home, the strap of his school bag resting on his right shoulder as he carried it with him, much like he did when he spoke with Yuuya earlier, before he left the school grounds himself. He strolled slowly on the asphalt sidewalk running along one side of Tokyo’s Metropolitan Route 319, the trees, shrubs and green metal guardrail separating the path from the street to his left, and the stone wall elevating the landscaped border of the Akasaka Imperial Property to his right. He looked forward with each step, but before long, he looked up, the lights in his eyes shimmering in concern.

**“Their accusations worsened already heightened tensions between the two families, and their increasing hostilities soon reached a boiling point.”**

Back at Shibuya Police Headquarters, Naokuu returned to his car in the parking lot and got inside, ready to return home. Unbeknownst to him, up on the sixth floor hallway overlooking the parking lot through a set of clear, curtainless windows were Azaguro and Natsutaka. The former looked down at him with a suspicious squint, while the latter merely stood by, waiting for his colleague to finish. They watched, as Naokuu backed out of his parking spot and drove away. Just as he was backing up, though, a piece of graffiti came into view on the concrete wall in front of his desired spot for the day.

冬空は死ぬだろう！

The Fuyuzora are going to die!

**“A declaration of all-out massacre.”**

Shin was among the crowd waiting at the intersection of Japan National Route 20 and Tokyo Metro Route 414 in Southern Shinjuku, watching as multiple cars and trucks traveled in both directions over the crosswalk he was waiting to continue his trip home on. A mix of middle-age working men and younger individuals in casual garb, with the stray high schooler or two mixed in, all stood alongside Shin as they waited to cross the street themselves. The majority were unmoving, and it wasn’t like Shin moved much either. He blinked once, though, holding his blank yet pensive expression as he continued biding his own time until the walk sign lit up for them.

**“Public attention to the upcoming battle sparked major concern for the safety of the people of Nakano Ward, if not Tokyo as a whole.”**

It wasn’t long after that Naokuu was finding himself close to home also. Driving along National Route 246, he was getting closer and closer to the three-way intersection with Setagaya Street, which would take him straight to his apartment. He looked forward as he drove, a cigarette between his lips with smoke gently trailing off the end. He took one hand off the wheel and pinched the cig, pulling it back as he let out a steady puff of smoke.

**“So, after the quarantine order was issued, a nationwide press blackout was placed on anything having to do with the battle. Those two injunctions made it impossible for anyone to know what went down, outside of the authorities sent to clean up the aftermath.”**

Shortly after that, he blazed past the lights, heading straight down Setagaya Street. Barely two seconds after he cleared the intersection, the green light he ran under turned yellow. After that, red, and brightly so.

**“As promised, the Shimizu completely _decimated_ the Fuyuzora. Not a single soldier on the streets of the battleground was spared. All of them, dead.”**

冬空は死んだ！

The Fuyuzora are dead!

The self-explanatory graffiti, spray-painted in red with a mass of black obscuring what may have been written there before, was still there on the stone wall bordering the southern edge of the Kanda River. Shin had stopped on the bridge crossing and moved close to the baby blue railing overlooking the river, observing the graffiti from where he was. His school bag was by his feet and his arms were crossed and resting on the railing. He eyed the words in curiosity. The curiosity of whether or not Naokuu found what he was searching for.

**“The clan’s sudden non-existence was the only piece of the battle that reached public ears. But with nothing physical to prove their demise, the announcement of such was considered symbolic.”**

While Shin was just a few minutes away from his abode, Naokuu was already there. He pressed his left hand against the car’s interior, just above the driver’s side doorframe, as he stood from his seat and out into the mostly empty parking lot, painted a harsh orange by the setting sun in the west. As he shut the door behind him, he spit his cigarette out onto the pavement. As usual, he took his foot to the shrunken stick, grinding the butt end into the ground with the front sole of his shoe. Once that was done, he turned around and hunched over slightly, sticking his car key in the hole on the handle and turning left.

**“Police witness reports the next morning then rose multiple concerns that public knowledge of the Fuyuzora’s gruesome fate would incite panic among the populace, creating further fears about the Great Yakuza War’s end effects on their daily life.”**

With a click, the door into the Level 1 Archives was locked for the evening. With closed eyes and his usual smarmy grin on his face, Hosuga stashed the keys away in his pants pocket and walked off, silently humming a tune under his breath with each step. In tune with the time of day, the hallway through which the entrance into the main archive was situated was dim. Most of the lights were switched off, with the occasional stray kept on for any late-goers.

**“As they wanted the War ended as soon as possible, they couldn’t risk feeding the fire any more than the media already had.”**

As Hosuga made his departure, two figures stood around the corner of the hallway, where the stairs to the different levels were. This time, Azaguro and Natsutaka were watching Hosuga leave, both men doing so with intent, as if they were aiming to remember this moment.

**“So the blackout was indefinitely extended, and the reports on the battle locked away on all fronts, only to see the light of day when the Great Yakuza War sees a permanent end.”**

The evening sunset tinged the skyline shared between Shibuya and Shinjuku with an orangish-pink glow, only emphasizing the dark purple sky of twilight that much more. Within seconds, the sun disappeared over the horizon, and the glow ceased. Night had begun once again.

**“That’s the truth behind the battle that took place that night.”**

********

“I see,” Shin said, now in the comfort of his home. “That would explain a few things.”

“It really _does_ ,” Naokuu replied. “Apparently, there were bodies all over the place, even in the furthest back alleys. If the fighting spread _that_ far inward, then no wonder the Kunoichi hit up some random house on the outskirts of the quarantine zone.”

Naokuu sat on the unfurnished wooden floor of his apartment, leaning against the back wall as he spoke with Shin over the phone. Having returned from work, he switched into a more comfortable getup, which amounted to a plain white T-shirt and a pair of gray boxers. On his end of the conversation, Shin had also switched into his sleepwear, a long-sleeved black shirt and similarly dark cotton pajama pants. By contrast to the lamp in the corner of Naokuu’s apartment, Shin’s bedroom lights were completely off, though the window curtain was open to keep things somewhat lit. The boy sat on the edge of his bed, looking down silently.

“I don’t get it.”

“Huh? What’s there not to get?”

“I was hoping for a reason. A solid reason why someone would ever take Muchise of all people. A good reason I could believe.”

Naokuu listened to Shin’s confession with solemnity, quietly grunting as the voice on the other end reached a pause.

“It really _sucks_. Knowing she was targeted just because she was _there_ , because it was _convenient_ for them to kidnap her…” Shin teared up with every consecutive second he spoke, trembling as he closed his eyes and tried to fight back the drops ready to flow out. “She’s gone, and for no reason at all…”

“Don’t say that, Shin.”

He gasped softly, blinking as he froze up and listened.

“There’s a reason behind every crime, even if it’s as simple as self-amusement.” Naokuu tilted his head back, resting his arm on his bent left leg. “But we can worry about that later. How’s the research coming on _your_ end?”

“Oh, it’s coming along just fine.” Shin wiped the would-be tears from his eyes with his shirt sleeve as he spoke. “I haven’t gotten what I need to know just yet, but it’ll be coming soon, don’t worry.” He lowered his arm and raised his head. “And once it _does_ , I’ll tell you first thing.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Naokuu stood up, grunting through his speech. “I’m expecting the details next time you call.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Hm. Talk with you then.” Naokuu moved the phone away from his ear and tapped the screen with his thumb, ending the call.

At the same time, Shin hung up on his end, collapsing backwards onto his bed. He kept a grip on his phone, as loose as it was, as his hand hit the bed. Displayed onscreen was an orange circle bearing the stock image for a phone contact, the head and upper torso of a male body not unlike those on restroom signs. Below it was Naokuu’s name in kanji, 頼柴直空. And below _that_ was the phrase 通話終了, “Call Ended”, and the call duration, 7:14.

“ _We’re so close now…_ ” Shin thought to himself as he stared up at his ceiling with tired eyes. “ _To think we’d come this far after nearly a week… It’s so hard to believe, and yet… Here it is. Our closest chance yet to finding Muchise._ ”

********

Shin’s smartphone buzzed in his hand early the next morning, at the time of day when the light was starting to peek over the horizon but not enough to brighten up his bedroom beyond what he would’ve seen after an hour’s worth of adjustment to the dark. On his screen was the familiar white envelope icon against a blue background, and the accompanying blurb.

新しいメッセージ

節久保裕也

New Message

Yuuya Fushikubo

Shin grunted himself awake as the vibrations in his hand persisted, raising the appliance above his head and tapping the screen with his thumb. He remained in the same position he fell asleep in, not even bothering to question that decision. He just focused on the message in the blue speech bubble.

清水族対秋辺族 今夜は文京で

Shimizu vs. Akibe. Tonight in Bunkyo.

He read the message, keeping the tired, out-of-it expression he woke up with not seconds earlier. But once finished, he shot his phone a small grin.

********

“No way! It’s happening in Bunkyo!?” Naokuu exclaimed as he sat up in his futon. The sleep he got that night was comparatively normal in position, but he had some pretty major bedhead as a result, on top of the beginnings of facial hair once again starting to come in.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” As he talked to Naokuu, Shin held his smartphone between his shoulder and ear as he stood by his bed and buttoned down his school undershirt. “Why’re you so excited about it, anyways? Is it dangerous down there or something?” One second after asking, he finished buttoning and put his phone back in his hand.

“No, nothing like _that_. You see, Bunkyo’s been somewhat of a recurring site for the kidnappings. Four abductions in three months.”

All four of them were there on his list of abductees.

#3 香月風花 2084/01/02 文京区 清水VS秋辺

#8 井上桜子 2084/01/15 文京区 清水VS秋辺

#15 加藤もも 2084/02/13 文京区 清水VS秋辺

#26 久上陽菜 2084/03/08 文京区 清水VS秋辺

#3 – Fuuka Kazuki – 01/02/2084 – Bunkyo Ward – Shimizu vs. Akibe

#8 – Sakurako Inoue – 01/15/2084 – Bunkyo Ward – Shimizu vs. Akibe

#15 – Momo Kato – 02/13/2084 – Bunkyo Ward – Shimizu vs. Akibe

#26 – Haruna Kugami – 03/08/2084 – Bunkyo Ward – Shimizu vs. Akibe

“While doing my research, I noticed another common thread between these cases. All the abductees were last seen in or around establishments linked to a single alley network in the ward’s center.”

The mental image was clear in Naokuu’s head. An overhead aerial image of one of the blocks in Bunkyo’s Hakusan neighborhood at its southern border with Koishikawa. A one-way street going south made up the western border, another one-way going west served as the southern border, while the north was a two-way dead end and the eastern was mostly open space with a larger building to its north and some more buildings along the westbound one-way to its south. The alley network in that block consisted of seven alleys: four north-to-south, two east-to-west, and one L-shaped. The three verticals took up the northeastern half of the block, each ending at the horizontal bisecting the block in two. Halfway between it and the northern border street was the second horizontal, linking into the westernmost of the three verticals. The fourth vertical, which was more like a legitimate street than the rest of the alleys, went from the main horizontal to the southern border street, starting a few ticks away from the easternmost northern vertical. As for the L-street, it started only one tick to the right of the westernmost northern vertical and looped into the southern vertical. Across this very network, four white circles with each red number associated with one of the four kidnappings popped up. #3 appeared in the northeastern quadrant on the middlemost vertical; #8 in the lower right corner of a large building between the two horizontals; #15 at the bend in the L-shaped street; and #26 at the intersection of the main horizontal and easternmost northern vertical.

“So it’s safe to bet that _that’s_ where they were abducted.”

“And you’re thinking the Kunoichi will go five for five with that same network?”

“Sure am,” Naokuu replied, now standing. “Now that we know where the Kunoichi’s next target will be, all we have to do is wait and confront them. What do you say we meet up later this afternoon and head straight there?”

With a hopeful yet confident smile, Shin nodded, softly grunting. “Sounds good. You can pick me up at Sadameicho at around 5:00. Is that good?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

“See ya.”

Before he could say anything else, Naokuu blinked once in a sudden, subtle doubletake. “Wait… Are you _kidding_ me!?” He suddenly shouted into the phone. “You want me to meet you at Sadameich–!?”

With a click on the other side of the channel, Shin hung up before Naokuu could finish his sentence. He enunciated the “ch” sound he abruptly stopped on twice, moving his phone back from his ear. But soon enough, his reaction died down. He let out an exasperated sigh – or at least, what counted for one in these circumstances – as he looked down at his screen.

“Sadameicho, huh?” He closed his eyes. “Seriously… Why meet _there_?”

********

The sky above Sadameicho High School in the minutes before late afternoon became early evening was a fairly light blue, the tint gradually segueing into the pure color in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Clouds were few and far between, mostly cumulus with one cirrostratus, all tinted yellow by the western sun. Shin looked up at this calm 4:59 P.M. sky as he stood outside the front gate to Sadameicho, trying not to accidentally gaze at the sun. As he leaned against the right half of the stone wall bordering either side of the gate from an entrant’s perspective, two students – the only others besides Shin to still be on the unusually desolate campus – had their eye on him as they headed for the gate themselves.

“Hey, check it out! There’s that Kizuka guy I was telling you about!”

“Really? _That’s_ Kizuka?”

The students were both female, dressed in the school uniform like Shin was, dark blue blazers and all. The first had short royal blue hair done up in a pair of fluffy pigtails tied at the waypoint between the side and the back of her head, allowing them to rest on her shoulders. Her purple eyes were framed with a pair of curved eyebrows that were more thick than thin, and her chest, while a simple C-cup, appeared to be half a size bigger thanks to how her uniform conformed to her torso. She walked with her hands behind her head, her school bag strap going across her chest as the bag hung at her side. The other girl, walking to the right of her friend, was a more conventional-looking brunette with a red bow tied in the back of her flowing hip-length hair. Her bangs were parted to avoid even the slightest obfuscation of her own purple orbs, and two large locks on either side of her head raised up slightly before falling past her ears, gently grazing her shoulders. Her breasts were Fs, the fabric of her undershirt and blazer stretching thanks to the constricting size. Her bag also hung at her side, but with her strap simply resting on her shoulder and nowhere else.

The brunette squinted ahead, trying to get a better look at Shin. “I wasn’t expecting him to be so _plain_ -looking…”

“Well ya know what they say, it’s always the one you least suspect!” The pigtailed schoolgirl closed her eyes and toothily grinned, snickering in amusement under her breath as she slowed to a stop in the middle of the courtyard, her friend doing the same not a second later.

As both of them stood, they kept watching Shin, whose eyes moved away from the sun and down to his wristwatch. After checking the time, he turned his head up and looked down the street.

“Who do you think he’s waiting for up there, so late in the day?”

“Hmm,” the brunette grunted. “Probably another innocent female student for him to harass.”

“Oh! I _really_ hope that student isn’t one of _us_ ~!” the blue-haired girl suddenly exclaimed in a mockingly aroused fashion, following it up with another breathy gasp.

“The way you say that, it’s like you _want_ him to harass you.”

“N-No!? Don’t say such things!” she interjected, spastically and defensively.

As the two of them bantered with one another, a vehicle drove down the empty asphalt street Sadameicho’s front gate was situated beside. It was Naokuu’s Civic, its borderline metallic blue chassis glimmering in the precursor to sunset. It moved at about five miles per hour beyond the recommended speed limit for the narrow two-lane road, the right wheels straddling the white dividing line between lanes. When it reached the school gates, just a couple car lengths away from the left-turn arrow on the pavement, it dropped in speed and came to a stop, front half square in front of the gates. The squealing of the tires as they braked caught the girls’ attention, prompting an “ah” from both as they turned away from each other and back at the gate. They saw the Civic parked there, and they saw Shin walk towards it.

“…Or maybe he was waiting for _that_ to show up,” the brunette said in dull defeat.

“Seems that way.”

As he saw Shin approach, Naokuu rolled down the driver’s side window with a press of the inside button, the panel disappearing past the bottom within seconds. Driving the car dressed in his white undershirt, black jacket, red tie combo, he turned and looked at Shin as he stopped at the window.

“Hey. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”

“Not at all, Tanoshiba, sir.” Shin closed his eyes and smiled. “In fact, I was expecting you to come much _later_!”

“You _were_ , huh?” Naokuu turned his head back, closing his eyes and grinning as he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “I’m not surprised; most people don’t realize how much work I can do when I put my mind to it.”

“Really, now…”

“Yeah, really. By the way,” Naokuu continued, looking left and right out his window, “this place seems less rowdy than usual.”

“Around this time, yeah. That’s why I had you come pick me up at 5.”

As they continued their conversation, the girls resumed theirs.

“…Dammit, I can barely hear a word they’re saying!”

“Why do you even _care_? If anything, you should be asking questions about his _relationship_ with that man.” The brunette turned to her friend and pointed at the car. “An outdated car like that pulling up to him just for a chat seems awfully suspicious.”

A perverted grin spread across the pigtailed girl’s face, an equally lecherous giggle soon following as she held her hand to her mouth and turned to the brunette. “Maybe Kizuka’s into older men~.”

“I doubt it,” the brunette said with a grimace. “Based on the rumors, I don’t think he swings that way. If anything, he’s probably in with the local yakuza. They do streetside chats like that _all_ the time.”

“I don’t think they drive crappy old Hondas, though.”

Back with the two past the gate, Naokuu held up his right hand and pointed at the passenger’s side seat with his thumb. “Get in.”

“Right.” Shin nodded and jogged around to the other side of the car. Once there, he opened the passenger’s side door and got inside. As he did, Naokuu faced forward and prepared to drive off once Shin was ready.

The brunette straightened up after giving their conversation a good look, her mouth forming a small frown emphasized by the pucker of her lips. “ _Whatever_ his deal, we should keep our mouths shut about this.”

“Yeah,” the blue-haired schoolgirl responded, putting her hands back behind her head as she resumed walking. “Kizuka’s already got a dozen rumors floating around about him. He doesn’t need two more.”

“If you say so…”

As the two resumed their walk to the gate together, Naokuu’s car started up again with a lock of the doors and a rev of the engine, driving away en route to Bunkyo.

********

The remaining daylight hours passed by like they never even happened. Nighttime had returned to Tokyo after yet another day, and compared to most nights where it either had a green or purplish tint or was pitch black, the mid-to-late evening sky was blue, leaning more towards cobalt than the usual navy. Apart from the haze near the buildings, there was hardly anything against the backdrop to obscure the sky, not even a single cloud.

Much like the rest of the city, the taller buildings in Bunkyo had some of their lights switched on, dotting the windows from which they were visible in either bright or soft white. Many of the windows around those, though, were off. In tune with that avoidance came the usual sounds of night in Tokyo. The faint running of car motors, and the even fainter but more frequent gunfire and clanging of sword blades against one another. Safe to say, the battle in Bunkyo – the fifth in a three-month span – had already begun.

And Shin and Naokuu were already there. They avoided getting caught up in the action, though. The two of them sat in the Civic as it was parked in the dead-end street branching off the westbound one-way on the southern border between Hakusan and Koishikawa; the southern vertical of the alley network they spoke of that morning. It faced the road, as if it were about to drive off onto the one-way street when all was said and done, but it stayed put. Engine off, doors closed, one building back from the intersection. They just sat and waited, looking at the digital radio dial of the center console. Above the six buttons numbered 1 to 6, the screen, a dull green with dark gray text, read the time and radio station they listened to. 21:44, 81.7 MHz FM.

“Multiple fights between yakuza gangs were reported in the Bunkyo Ward area at approximately 9:30 this evening,” the male announcer dictated over the slightly scratchy frequency. “In response, the city of Tokyo has issued a quarantine order for the following districts in the Bunkyo area: Hakusan, Kasuga, Kohinata, Koishikawa, Mukogaoka, Nishikata, and Otsuka. Anyone who lives in those districts are advised to remain indoors until the order is lifted. I repeat: anyone who lives in the Hakusan, Kasuga, Kohinata, Koishikawa, Mukogaoka, Nishikata, or Otsuka districts in Bunkyo are advised to remain indoors until further notice. This has been an announcement from the Tokyo Emergency Warning System. We now return you to your previous programming.”

Just as the announcer started to repeat the listing of districts under the quarantine advisory, Naokuu reached for the knob to the left of the screen and turned it counterclockwise a few notches, turning down the volume from 6 to 3. “Guess that makes it official. The Shimizu’s next battle has already started.” He pulled his arm back and crossed both over his chest. “And so has our wait.”

“When do you think they’re going to strike?” Shin asked. “The Kunoichi, I mean.”

“I’d imagine right away. You said you ran into them not long after last Saturday’s battle started, so they’ll probably take action as soon as possible tonight too. Those stranded outside at the start of quarantine _would_ make the easiest targets, after all.”

“But how will we _know_ when they strike?”

“They don’t take kindly to witnesses, and I mean they _really_ don’t…” Shin shuddered some as he spoke.

“If we’re lucky, their next target will scream for help. And if she’s close, it shouldn’t be too much trouble finding the source.” As he continued, Naokuu reached inside his jacket, phishing around for his pack of cigarettes. “Trust me, we’ll get them within our sights, even if we fail this first time.” He tapped the bottom of the pack after getting it out, a single cigarette popping out of the square opening.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Without a single word, Naokuu brought the pack up to his mouth and placed his lips around the cigarette. After pulling the pack away and returning it to his pocket, he took out his Bic lighter and flicked it, lighting the stick on the end. He then stashed _it_ away and pinched the middle of the cig with his thumb and index, inhaling deeply. As he savored his first drag, Shin just sat by and listened to the music coming out of the car’s stereo. An emotional, rhythmic tune with indeterminate female vocals singing in a semi-random sequence over strings, digital percussion, and the occasional handclap-sounding drum hit, with male vocals repeating “hey” throughout that atmospheric fusion of noise. As he kept listening, Shin started nodding along to it.

“Interesting song they’re playing here. Wonder what genre it is.”

Naokuu pulled his cigarette away and calmly exhaled the smoke before answering Shin’s rhetorical question.

“It’s called vaporwave.”

“Vaporwave?” Shin blinked and glanced at Naokuu.

“Yeah. It’s an early 21st century music form based around pop and easy listening, meant to evoke nostalgia for the ‘80s and ‘90s with the aid of its unique visual aesthetic. It’s really quite the genre. I’m surprised you couldn’t tell this was vaporwave,” he said as he turned to Shin.

“Yeah, well, I’d never actually heard of it until now.”

“Seriously? What’re you, living under a rock?” Naokuu turned his head away but kept looking at Shin, resting his wrists atop his steering wheel. “Vaporwave, ambient, and chill-out are the big three music genres of the New ‘80s. Hell, _I_ know that, and I’m not even _into_ music.”

“Sorry,” Shin sheepishly said, looking away from Naokuu. “It’s just that I’m more a dark techno kind of guy than anything else.”

Naokuu smirked as he returned his cigarette to his mouth. “Hn. Dark techno… Man, you’re lame,” he said with a brief chortle.

“Don’t I know it.”

It was surprisingly peaceful for those two in the car, in spite of the cigarette smoke filling the front seats and faint sounds of battle beyond the alley. Eyes closed, smiles on their faces, letting out quiet, easy-going laughs. Conversing like they did really took the edge off, easing up the tension of the situation at hand for them, if only temporarily.

And it was. Mere seconds later, a sharp, feminine scream of terror pierced the air above the neighborhood block, audible from inside the car and its rolled-up windows. Both Shin and Naokuu snapped out of their post-conversational daze, the former looking up in alert as a slightly startled expression took over.

“That was a scream,” he quietly exclaimed.

“Just what I’ve been _waiting_ for!” Naokuu moved off of the wheel and grabbed the indoor handle of the driver’s side door. He lifted it and pushed the door open at the same time, the radio turning off automatically as he did.

Once out on the asphalt street, Naokuu reached into his back pocket and pulled out a handgun – a black Sig Sauer P220 semi-automatic – holding it in his left hand as he put his right on the edge of the door.

“I’m going on ahead. You wait here until I get back, alright, Shin?”

“Of course, Mister Tanoshiba. Good luck out there!”

Naokuu grinned at Shin’s words of encouragement. “Hn. Thanks, I’ll need it.”

With that, he shut the car door and ran diagonally across the empty lane, moving from the car to the first alley opening on his left.

“There he goes,” Shin said quietly to himself, leaning over the center console armrest as he looked back at the running policeman. “Mister Tanoshiba sounded so confident just now. But still…” He frowned gently in concern. “I don’t think he knows who he’s up against.”

********

The alley where the abduction took place – rather, where it was taking place – was narrow, sandwiched between a pair of two-story residences that were packed close together, and the six-story portion of a seven-story apartment complex outfitted with a red brick exterior. The bottom of the third-story balcony jutting out from the complex’s rear, matching the ones on the fourth and fifth stories above, provided cover for the alley, as well as light from a pair of dim, flickering bulbs hidden by opaque circular covers. A near-perfect place for a kidnapping.

The victim in question, a woman in her early 20s with short black hair and C-cup breasts, dressed in a purple blouse-dress with hot pink stockings, kept crying for help, though not as clearly as the initial scream. Her voice was muffled out, her mouth packed with a large jam gag held in place under a bright OTN mask that matched her stockings. Her body was also tied up, a simple rope harness moving around her breasts and running through her crotch binding her torso while her arms were bound behind her back and her legs tied together. Multiple wraps of white microfoam tape joined the rope in tying her up, either overlapping the ties or alternating with them. Her arms, in particular, were coated with the tape, leaving them hidden.

“Oh, be _quiet_!” Fuji shouted as she tugged the leash attached to the leather collar fastened around the woman’s neck, forcing her to hop one step forward on her bound feet. She looked straight into her small, quivering brown eyes with her own red orbs, the dominance within them burning brightly. “As much as I _love_ hearing you try to speak behind that thick mouth-splitting gag, I can’t have you calling any attention after that uncalled-for scream. Even so… this is so _exciting_ ~!” She closed her eyes cheerily, tugging on the girl’s leash again as she brought her free hand to her masked cheek. “My first solo mission is going better than I thought!”

Indeed, Fuji had accomplished this kidnapping by her lonesome. No Nawa or Tazuna to accompany her this time. Only her catch, who resumed struggling after the second tug. “Mmmmmph! Nnngggmmfff!”

Fuji opened her eyes, glancing at her wiggling victim. “Perhaps I’ll get to _keep_ you as a reward for a job well done~.”

The girl’s eyes widened, prompting her to struggle all the more. “Hrrmmmffff!!”

“Oh yes, my very own gagslut…” Following up her dreamily spoken comment with a soft chuckle, Fuji brought her hand to the girl’s own gag-covered cheek, her thrashing in place brought to a halt by the twintailed kunoichi’s gloved touch, soft yet dominant. She whimpered softly, slowly growing more nervous – to the point of sweating – as Fuji lovingly gazed at her with perverted intent.

“Don’t move!”

The sudden shout caught the attention of both Fuji and her captive. Their eyes widened once the words hit their ears, and at the same time, they slowly turned their heads to face the end of the alley.

“This is the police!”

Standing there, two steps into the alley at its southern end, was Naokuu. His feet were planted in place against the rough blacktop as he held up his pistol with both hands, finger on the trigger, pointed at Fuji.

“Let go of the girl and put your hands behind your head,” he stated authoritatively. “Or I _will_ be forced to shoot!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. The Akasaka Imperial Property is the property on which Akasaka Palace, one of Japan’s two State Guesthouses, is located.  
> 2\. The block described as Naokuu brings up the Kunoichi’s Bunkyo-relevant kidnappings is the 2-chome 4 block of Hakusan, Bunkyo.


End file.
